A Hollow Whisper
by tHeBlaCkCroSs
Summary: His crimson eyes feasted upon her pale skin, even though the room was pitch black. As much as her mind told her not to, her eyes couldn't leave the intense gaze he was giving her. ItaSaku.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO.**

WARNING: CONTAINS SLIGHT LANGUAGE.

**Cathy: Hi people! Yeah, so this is my first chapter of this story. Well, thanks sooo much to my "royal" editor and co-writer mimi121503!!! Yeah..the infamous cat-lover, pshhh jking. Well, anyway, i hope it satisfy's your curiosity? (Yeah rite) well, i just hope its not too bad...**

**Eileen: -waves- Well I really dislike long author notes myself, so let's get on with the chapter..**

**Note:This chapter has been re-edited to fix typos, as well as add a couple of new scenes.**

** Enjoy!  
**

_A Hollow Whisper _

_Chapter One_…

The hot, sticky summer day carried along lazily as 20-year-old ANBU captain Haruno Sakura trained with her teammates. In spite of the retaliating heat and drips of hot, sticky sweat gushing down her forehead, Sakura kept pushing herself on, training her jutsus in every constant motion that time allowed.

Sakura embraced the set of kunai's thrown her way furiously. She leaped up onto a large, oak tree, dodging every single one of her teammate's attacks with splendid grace and skill. Her chakra control was perfect, able to sense every incoming attack without hesitation. Her eyes and her ears were powerful enough to challenge even Kakashi's sharingan, without the defects of the sharingan as well, which gave her a slight advantage over him every time they fought. But in no means did that mean that Kakashi was a handicap. The legendary copycat ninja deserved his reputation.

"Oi, Sakura! Don't you ever get tired?" whined Ino.

Ino started to fan herself with her hand, all the while bossing Shikamaru to get off his lazy ass and hand her a bottle of water. Shikamaru ignored her endless whining and instead focused his attention on Chouji, who was also eyeing the last bottle of crisp, refreshing water available.

Sakura gave a relieved smile, showing no signs of slowing down, even though her insides were begging her mind to slow down and rest for a second. Her mind relentlessly ignored the constant streams of warnings her body gave, and continued to accelerate her body's speed and agility, blasting her strength to full volume.

Sakura continued to practice her taijutsu by herself with the rest of her teammates and Kakashi watching, while sitting in the cool shade, sipping water vigorously.

Sakura stopped for a second to wipe the never-ending sweat from her forehead, and then turned around to look at her teammates. She envied the way they could laugh so carelessly, without a care in the world.

She knew better than that however. Each was equally frightened by the idea of an upcoming war, but none showed any means of wariness. Sakura was probably the only one who revealed her paranoid nature 24/7.

Sakura soon caught Kiba's attention, and saw him flash a big smile towards her direction, showing his large and aggressive canine teeth at her proudly.

Sakura returned the favor by plastering on one of her most infamous fake smiles, hoping no one would detect her lack of expression in it. She turned around and quickly went back to training by herself.

* * *

Kakashi watched as Sakura forced on her emotional mask, large (obviously fake) smile spreading across her face. To anyone else, it would seem like a normal, content smile; but to one of her dearest friends, it was a fake smile, used to delusion everyone into thinking she was secure and happy. They all knew better of course. There was a giant gap from a real smile and a fake smile. Her eyes had revealed it, for they lacked the color and the enthusiasm that once danced around in those emerald eyes of hers. Kiba had recoginized it too, for his smile quickly turned into a frown, slight worry visible in his eyes. 

Kakashi closed his eyes slowly and sighed. How long was it since Sakura actually gave a real smile?

"_Sakura," questioned Kakashi, "How long have you been standing in the cemetery?"_

_Sakura's continued focusing on the grave in front of her, her eyes never once leaving the scripts written on the tomb._

"_I don't know Kakashi-sensei, I didn't keep track…" _

_Her words slowly faded away softly, as if a breeze had swept away the rest of her sentence. _

_Kakashi stared painfully at his former student. He understood the pain and regret she had held deep in her eyes, for he felt the same remorse over and over again. First he had lost his teammates, Rin and Obito, now he had lost all of his students, the third one lost in her own subconscious. Bad karma seemed to stick onto him like glue._

_After a long silence, Sakura finally kneeled down towards a large, desolate gravestone. Kakashi walked forward and immediately recognized it was her mother's gravestone. Beneath the words, lay a simple rose, its beauty out of place in the lonely cemetery._

"_Kakashi-sensei…" started Sakura, "I want their tombs to go beside my mothers, so I can remember each one of them at the same time."_

_Kakashi fully acknowledged "their" referred to Sasuke and Naruto._

_After what seemed like hours in Kakashi's opinion, Sakura finally got up and swept the dirt off her ANBU outfit. _

_"Kakashi-sensei..." she began, "After Naruto left with Jiraiya, I vowed to myself never to depend on others for help again, you know? I vowed myself never to be left behind as a shadow in their images, but to gain my rightful position as next to them, as comrades, not just a heavy burden."_

_Sakura's eyes stared dully at the grave while Kakshi spoke._

_"Sakura, you're not weak. Naruto and Sasuke are...special... in their own ways. Its their motivation that drives them to succumb for power. Sasuke for his intention to kill his brother, and Naruto to stop Sasuke from killing his brother. It all depends on how strong your motivation is. Sakura, your motivation is trying not to let Team seven fall apart..." replied Kakashi, immediately regretting what he just said._

_Sakura gave a small chuckle.  
_

_ "And what a fantastic job I've done so far..." continued Sakura._

_"Sakura, you're not even sure if their...gone... or not." said Kakashi softly._

_Sakura sighed, and finally murmured a small goddbye to Kakashi. Kakashi noticed a single tear drip from Sakura's emerald eyes down to her pink, round cheek._

_Kakashi stood there dumbly, finally realizing how his student had grown up from the whiny, over-sensitive girl she used to be._

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei?" 

No answer.

"Kakashi-sensei???"

Still no answer.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!!"

Kakashi recapped back into memory at the startled noise. He raised his head to notice a questioned Sakura staring at him curiously.

"Kakashi-sensei, the others have left already, you ready to go now?" replied Sakura at Kakashi's responsive stare.

"Of course," ventured Kakashi spitefully. He sighed, he had lost track of time again, flashing back into old memories. It was best not to add more salt to the wound. The pain he got sometimes these past days was as severe as it was already.

Sakura gave a small nod and began chastising Kakashi for throwing his stuff so bluntly on the ground. All the while, Kakashi just took in the criticism, giving a small, weak smile at Sakura's naturely "motherness".

The walk towards the center of the city was awkwardly silent. Twice, Kakashi tried to start a conversation, asking Sakura how her medicine practice with Tsunade was. Twice, the only answer he got was:

"Oh, its always the same so and so."

Kakashi never failed to notice the exact, same counterfeit smile plastered on her face each time.

* * *

Sakura stifled a small yawn as she entered her small, unproportional apartment building. 

Sakura carelessly slammed the door behind her, too tired to care whether or not the neighbors were cursing at her again for making loud, interruptive noises. She quickly slipped on an oversized mesh shirt and a loose, waist-high Capri. She climbed onto her bed, her eyes glittering a bit as finally realized she could relax.

She gave a small groan as she slipped under the covers of her bed, her tense muscles relaxing as the comfortableness of the sheets hypnotized her body into a deep sleep.

Before she could however, fall into a deep slumber, she was awakened by a small rattle. Sakura first ignored the sound, but then it happened again, and again, and again.

Sakura cursed silently, and dragged herself out of her bed, her fingers wrapped firmly around a kunai. Whoever disturbed her sleeping would pay heavily.

Sakura held her kunai closer towards her chest as she tip-toed outside to her living room. She immediately sensed someone else in her room, and in a flash appeared behind her intruder, kunai placed around the neck.

"Who the hell are you and why are you in my living room?" hissed Sakura viciously.

Although the room was pitch black, she felt her intruder smear a dangerous smile across his face.

Sakura's grip on her kunai tightened. Suddenly, she felt something nibbling on her along the ribs. She hesitated for a slight second, but it was enough time for her intruder to release himself from her grasp.

Sakura figured it would be a burglar, but her intruder was a shinobi. Not one with highly developed skills though.

His movements were slow and lazy, and Sakura quickly broke his hand with a twist around the wrists. Her intruder stopped fidgeting and gave a small cry of pain. He grabbed his wounded hand with his other hand, and began to curse viciously, his voice too delicate for a man's. Sakura quickly knocked him out with a punch, and he became unconscious.

Sakura held on to her unconscious prisoner, all the while slowly trudging towards the light switch.

Sakura was a little surprised. It wasn't a guy that just tried to rob her, but a girl.

"Oh...a girl..." whispered Sakura silently.

A pretty one too. The girl had long, tied back blonde hair, her bangs reaching towards her closed eyelids. Her cheeks were firmly centered, with a small blush of red in them and her lips were a pale pink color. Her plain, black cloak stretched beneath her feet (which Sakura guessed must've been presumably small too).

Sakura decided it was best to not leave her in the privacy of her own home, and decided to drag her out to Tsunade's so she could plan a consequence. Also, it would be embarrasing to call other ANBU athis late at night just to do something she herself could do.The penalty would be much higher for a thief who has shinobi skills, rather than an ordinary thief. Misusing skills a shinobi retained for own personal gain was strictly forbidden.

What did bother Sakura was the fact that her intruder had so easily given in. The noise she had made had been too loud, even for a poor skilled shinobi. The fighting, everything.

Sakura gave a small sigh as the image of sacrificing her comfortable bed to drag a criminal out to Tsunade's entered her mind.

Nevertheless, she grabbed the collar of her intruder's coat, and started dragging her outside of her apartment.

* * *

During the day, the streets of Konoha were bustling with merchants, adults, children, and all sorts of living creature that dwelled there. 

During the night, it closely resembled the ghost towns in western films Naruto had forced her and Sasuke to watch a week before the genin exams.

Sakura quickly dismissed the memories of their childhood days, afraid that the pain would drive her insane again at the memory of Team seven's former members.

Still, her mind pranced around her happier childhood days. The days that consisted of laughing, and quarrels between Sasuke and Naruto that Sakura always had to stand between in. Sakura smiled at those memories.

But always after the happy cascades, the dark, gloomy ones came, and Sakura's smile vanished.

It was memories such as the "departure" of Sasuke, and the solemn face of Naruto that brought her on the verge of tears. After those days, she vowed to become stronger, never having to rely on the energy of those around her. So why was she feeling pity now?

Sasuke….Naruto….

Sakura pulled out a kunai instantly to defend herself from the rush of kunai's in her direction. The girl she had previously hung onto drifted away from her grasp carelessly, a wicked smirk on her face.

"Shit, she was pretending," muttered Sakura silently to herself.

Soon, she was defending herself vehemently from the blur of kunai's rushed towards her direction. When the assaults finally stopped, she looked around.

Damn, she was trapped.

Around her, three cloaked men surrounded her, each holding onto a kunai. Sakura started trembling slightly after she noticed the red clouds swirling around their cloaks.

Akatsuki…

Sakura sensed their chakra levels. Each was too high leveled, there was no way she could escape three Akatsuki members.

Her head started swirling around in confusion. No one spoke, each Akatsuki eyed Sakura suspiciously. Sakura noticed her previous intruder was one of the three.

In all her training of shinobi, she had only heard of two Akatsuki. The missing mist-nin Kisame, Sasori, and the infamous clan muderer Uchiha Itachi…the older brother of Sasuke who he had sworn to kill.

Suddenly, Sakura felt a dangerous rage about to consume her. This man, indirectly were the roots of almost everything.

Wasn't it him who had led Sasuke down the park of darkness, with Naruto chasing after him.

He was the cause for their misfortune, their suffering.

She took several breaths, attempting to calm herself. Emotions should never overrule a shinobi, she had learned that She had learned it through things too painful to think about.

Sakura stared hard into the eyes of each and every one of them. Kisame smirked maliciously at her, his eyes considering what to do after they captured her. Every once in a while, Sakura noticed how he tapped the blade of his sword against his palm, just anticipating the moment where he would get to press his blade onto the soft tenderness of her skin.

Sakura just noticed the blonde grit his teeth at the intense pain Sakura had inflicted upon his wrist. She smiled at him dangerously, glad to have hurt at least one of the Akatsuki member. The blonde turned his eyes away, ashamed to have been hurt by her.

Sakura finally focused her gaze on the emotionless eyes of Itachi the longest. She noticed that his eyes were a dull, crimson color, and his expression was one without a care or a damn about the world. Sakura stared long, and hard into his eyes. It was these eyes that watched Sasuke shrivel up as he witnessed his parents murder. It was these eyes that murdered all of the innocents of the Uchiha clan, all the small infants that held no guilt to the world, except wanting to be loved and caressed by their parents.

For some odd reason, Sakura could somehow relate to the emotionless expression in those crimson eyes of his. Hadn't she herself been feeling the same in these past couple of years? Sakura suddenly felt slightly guilty, but soon decided she was a much better person than _Uchiha Itachi._

Sakura's cheeks turned a bright crimson color as she further indulged herself into his emotionless eyes. Sakura's grip on her kunai tightened, as she readied herself to charge at the Akatsuki members, Itachi being the one she wanted to inflict her wrath upon the most.

Before she could actually reach them however, she saw Itachi disappear from his usual position in front of her, and appear suddenly in front of her. The others had not even moved from their space.

Sakura was about to argue, when she felt herself slowly fade away into a subliminal unconsciousness. Her mind began to dizzy, and the last feeling she felt before drifting away was an awful pain in her stomach.

"I'm not a girl," hissed the blonde, was the last thing she heard before being carried away by the infamous Uchiha Itachi.

**TBC...**

**

* * *

Well, I guess that was a good first chapter...seeing as a first impression counts as a last impression...yeah.. well, I just hoped it didn't suck that much . **

**Cathy: Well, PLEASE REVIEW….PLEASE PLEASE –begging on my knees- REVIEW. Yes I am desperate people -- . Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and wait at least 3-4 days for my to come up with a new chapter!**

** Eileen: God Cathy..don't be so pathetic -- **

**Adieu **

**Thanks for shopping at Kroger!**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO**

**Contains language…yeah, that's it. **

**Notes:**

**Cathy: My awesome, awesome, editor and co-write Eileen is fantastic! SHE KNOWS BIG WORDS! Well, anyway, I hope you guys review!**

**Eileen: Yes, I know I'm awesome xD And I use a thesaurus for the big words, they work very well. And we thank all of those who reviewed!**

**IMPORANT  
Question:**** Do you want Sasuke DEAD..or ALIVE?**

**Naruto's alive :D Just saying **

**That's up to you, please tell us what you want. If Sasuke gets killed off (TT), then the story wil be more focused on Itachi and Sakura. Plus it adds to Sakura's whole..sad..image right now.**

**If Sasuke comes in, then the whole plot is..gonna thicken. Maybe something like..how Sakura still cares for Sasuke...or something. But sorry, no love triangles Maybe just slight onesided feelings on Sakura's side.**

**IT'S UP TO YOU! -points at you-**

_A Hollow Whisper_

_Chapter Two… _

A cool breeze gently tapped Sakura's hair, stirring her slightly. Her eyelids slowly lifted. A small crack, becoming bigger and bigger as her mind started to awaken. Her conscience and her mind fought an unwilling battle, but finally her conscience won over, and Sakura was fully awake, frantically scanning the room in which she was held.

'What the hell happened?... Oh yeah, Akatsuki. ' thought Sakura

Sakura suddenly felt a pain struck her shoulders as she tried to move them. She gave a small groan, the pain becoming an increasing pest. She quickly used some of her chakra to heal her stiffed shoulder. In no time the familiar green glow appeared, and her shoulder began to stop aching, and she could easily bend it without the pain.

Sakura surprisingly felt really calm waking up in a strange room God knows where. She stood up tentatively and examined the room.

It was…white. The walls were bare, the room sending an aura of emptiness. She glanced around warily, her lips were marred into a frown. She sighed, pulling back her hand and forming a fist. She began to draw chakra toward her clenched first, feeling the familiar warmth of the chakra surge through her body, gathering it in her hand. However, before her fist came into contact with the wall, the sound of a terse voice broke her concentration.

"Stop." the stoic voice demanded quietly.

She ignored the alien voice, not bothering to see who it was. She gathered chakra toward her hand again quickly since she felt two chakra signatures present in the barren room. Again she was interrupted. The feeling of cold metal was present on her throat.

"Shit." she muttered under her breath. The voice spoke again.

"Face me." he ordered. Sakura obeyed, not daring to look back to see who was holding the kunai to her throat. She already had a strong hunch as to who both chakra signatures in the room were. She turned around slowly, her breath hitching. Her eyes widened, and her abhorrent suspicions were deemed correct.

The leader of Akatsuki stood before her in all his petrifying glory. She took a slow breath, panic beginning to override her senses. She had heard about him. His torturing, and his ruthless murdering. Never before had she thought she would ever come face to face with him, mere centimeters apart from flesh touching flesh.

'Calm yourself...calm yourself..' she chanted to herself. She collated her courage hissing, "What the hell do you want with me?" Pein said nothing. His emotionless eyes merely continuing to regard Sakura.

"You will remain here for the time being." he deadpanned.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, her fear completely forgotten. "What the hell do you thi-" she had gotten out before Pein simply vanished. Sakura's jaw dropped open. She hadn't even sensed any sort of chakra being drawn to teleport, nor had her eyes caught his movement. She drew herself into a running position, ready to find Pein.

"Leader has stated clearly you will remain here, Haruno-san."' came the cold, curt voice, from behind of none other than Uchiha Itachi. Sakura tensed, quickly switching her pose to a fighting position and swing her head to meet once more, the impassive eyes of Itachi.

"Why..you..how dare...HOW DARE YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO AFTER WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Sakura snarled and threw a flurry of punches at him. With each punch, Itachi remained entirely imperturbable gracefully evading attack with barely any effort. Sakura did not stop, the speed of the punches increasing, her rage and pain finally leaking out. "It's your fault!" she continued to repeat as the attacks became more desperate, since Itachi had successfully dodged each one. Angry tears were streaming down her cheeks, her sea-foam colored eyes reddening as the furious tears continued to pour down her cheeks.

'It was his fault.' ran through her mind as she relentlessly continued to throw the useless punches. 'His fault.' Sakura had come face to face, with the one man she had placed the blame on for all her miseries. In her mindset, Uchiha Itachi was the aboslute source of all of her pain, and her friends' pain. Itachi seemed to finally begin to this pointless battle, and simply didn't feel like wasting the energy of calming the raving girl.

He disappeared, appearing behind Sakura's back. Before Sakura could even process what was happening, Itachi had applied a short chop of his hands to Sakura's neck and she collapsed onto the ground. She felt the world begin to dim softly around her, and she weakly stretched a hand out , but the world had entirely faded black again.

* * *

She was alone. Sakura knew this. The world was dark around her with mist swirling in the air, and she shivered. It was cold… so cold. What happened…? Suddenly an onslaught of memories penetrated her head, and everything slightly became clearer. Itachi...something had happened between them. A battle..? And suddenly the fog disappeared leaving a blank world stretching on forever in front of her. The thought of Itachi began to draw her rage again as she reminisced on what he had done to Naruto and Sasuke.

Suddenly she had a sudden longing for everything to stop. She wanted to stop feeling so much hatred and so much pain. And suddenly, everything dissolved and she awoke.

Sakura woke up to the silence of the vacant room, Itachi's presence nowhere to be seen. As she started to get up, she felt her body drained of all her energy, and quickly collapsed back on the floor. She raised her hands in front of her face, and saw large, metal cuffs attached to her wrists. Sakura's eyes widened. They had put chakra cuffs on her.

_Damn Akatsuki, Damn, Damn,Damn. _Sakura felt the rush of hot tears beginning to increase, but quickly wiped them away with the little strength she had left. They had insulted her, mocked her, and now humiliated her. She felt so weak for letting them take advantage of her so easily. After all the training she had done in Konoha with her friends and Kakashi, they had proved nothing against these cold-blooded murderers.

By now, the tears were uncontrollably streaming down her face, and Sakura didnt bother to wipe them away. She began to regret all those years with her friends. She saw how selfish she had been, to all of them. How she ignored all of their own sorrows and pain, never asking once how they felt with two dear people in their lives gone. She never even asked how Kakashi felt, losing his two former teammates, and then losing two of his own students.

Sakura's eyes became red and puffy, but soon the tears stopped. She would make it all up to them when she got back. She would make up for the years she had selfishly denied their existent. For now, she had to find a way out.

Sakura started to use her strength to push herself up to be standing. She cursed to herself several times. It wasn't joyous being so weak that you could hardly even stand.

She wasted no time and quickly started scanning the room, searching for some way in which she could leave without them knowing her presence was missing. Sakura got up, her knees a little numb, but still nevertheless continued to trudge forward towards the window. The window was filthy, looking as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. Dark smudges covered every portion of the glass, so bad that Sakura could only make out a small tree. Or was it a pole?

Sakura placed her hands slowly on the window pane. Within minutes, she could sense someone's chakra coming up towards the room in which she was held captive. She turned around, just in time to see a blonde opening the door, his face instead expressionless like Itachi, seeming rather bored.

When the blonde met eyes with her, she realized at once it was the "girl" she thought that robbed her house. The man clearly looked like he was in pain, for his left hand was clutching his right hand fiercely. Sakura smirked. She was happy to hurt at least one Akatsuki member. Besides, it _was_his fault for trying to screw with her.

* * *

Deidara noticed the smirk his captive had given him. His face soon turned into a scowl, as the excrutiating pain in his right hand became more intense. Suddenly, a notion came to his head and he smirked back, her eyes were red, she must've been crying.

"I read on your profile that you're a medic nin, un." he told her quite casually. However, Sakrua detected the slightly malicious tone in his words and tensed.

"And..?" Sakura asked lazily, knowing exactly what question was coming her way.

Deidara held out his injured wrist. "You know what I want, un." he drawled. Sakura narrowed her eyes, before a smug look settled onto her face.

She smiled happily, a gleam appearing in her eyes. "No." she answered him simply

Deidara turned his head , his eyes now meeting her's. "Don't be smart with me, un. Heal it!" he hissed at her. Sakura shook her head slowly again. The smug look still present on her face. Deidara losing the short patience he already hand, lifted his other uninjured hand and brought it back down.

Deidara advanced toward her, a murderous look gleaming in his eyes. He wanted to hurt her so badly. He had always been alright with ladies, pleasing them in every single way, but this girl was a real pain the ass. The damn kunoichi had broken all 27 bones in his right hand. Leader wanted him to "play" the part as being a weak, insufficient shinobi, and in the process he had gotten his god-damn hand broken.

The idea drove him mad, and within moments, his hand was raised up parallel to her head, ready to be cast down on her pale cheek. The kunoichi flinched a little, but didnt move away to dodge his attack.

His hand was inches away from her face, when he stopped. He didn't even bother to turn to see who it was.

"She is supposed to be kept unharmed." replied Itachi in a monotone voice. His eyes betrayed no change in expression, acknowlodging Deidara's fury at the girl.

Deidara slowly inched away from the Sakura, his desire to hurt her still revealing itself on his face. Finally, he turned his back on her, and walked out, slamming his shoulder on Itachi's as he made his exit.

* * *

Silence. Unbearable silence. The minutes ticked away as neither of them moved.

Finally, unable to stand the silence anymore, Sakura stared back at Itachi, into those deep, penetrating eyes of his.

Itachi did not move, but instead broke the silence between them by giving a small, nearly unhearable sigh, making no comment on her red, puffy eyes.

"You must be hungry." It was more a statement than a consideration.

"I'm fine." replied Sakura darkly, her eyes never once leaving his.

Itachi regarded Sakura for a moment. The kunoichi was stubborn.

"Just why the hell do you care anyway?" asked Sakura, her tone slightly aggressive, but she was too angry to care.

"I don't, but I am under orders to _guard _you. So you can not starve to death.."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the girl. Something about her seemed familiar. Oh, she was the girl who chased after his foolish little brother. He slowly turned away, leaving the pink-haired girl still sitting standing silently in the corner. With one last glance, he turned away and shut the door gently behind him, making sure to bolt it shut.

And a lonely whisper resounded throughout the room.

"Sasuke..Naruto...I wonder what you guys would do if you were stuck here with me..."

* * *

Somewhere a man sneezed, and the older man walking beside him sighed.

"Honestly Naruto, don't catch a cold right before we return to Konoha!" Jiraiya exclaimed, exasperated already with the blond's increasing protests of how far their destination was.

Naruto sniffed haughtily. "It's not a cold! I don't catch colds! You know why..." he started loudly, as his voice decreased to a hushed whisper. Jiraiya's eyes softened.

"Yes..I know, brat." Jiraiya responded gently.

Naruto paused for a moment in his strides foward. His eyes turned downcast, a sorrowful, distant look in his now violet eyes. He asked quietly, "Ne, Ero-sennin, do you think they'll be...frightened of...all these changes?"

Jiraiya paused as well. He looked back, his eyes rested fondly on his student. "Don't worry Naruto. They're your friends. They'll get used to a couple of red highlights and fangs. And of course they'll understand why you kept secrets." he replied and hesitated, before adding another side comment. "And who'll ever be scared of YOU?" he joked lightly.

Naruto seemed reassured by Jiraiya's words and the familiar spark of liveliness re-entered his eyes. "Hey I resent that, ero-sennin!" he hollered.

"Don't call me that!" he shouted back.

And together they continued on, step by step nearing their destination. Home.

ItaSakuItaSakuItaSakuItaSaku

And somewhere else, as the pair continued home, a girl sat in the confines of her prison. With nothing, but her memories to comfort her.

TBC..

**Cathy: Well, i guess that's the end for chapter two. Sorry it took so long..i think. Well, I definitely think chapter two is ALOT better than Chapter one. Thanks everyone who reviewed!! Also, remember to give us your opinion whether or not you want Sasuke back, dead or Alive...DUN DUN DUN...**

**Eileen: ...CATHY I'M NOT DONE EDITING YET**

**Cathy: Oi, HURRY UP, the people want the new chapter, slow poke...oh yeah, btw, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!**

**Eileen: Did you just say.."Oi..." ?**

**Cathy: Yes i did...Oi...Oi..Oi...Oi...(keeps on going)**

**Eileen: You know one ever reads this right? I don't usually on fanfictions**

**Cathy: Oh shush eileen, how dare you criticize your own masterpiece?**

**Cathy:Well anyway, just review..yeah..REVIEW**

**Eileen: Gaaaaaah, don't order them to.. DON'T REVIEW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO!**

**Cathy:Who knows what will happen in Chapter 3..? ( i certainly don't) Also, sorry people its so short!**

**Eileen: I do XD **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: You can obviously tell Naruto doesn't belong to either of us, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author's Notes:**

**Eileen: Gah…sorry about that I posted the wrong chapter last time. I posted chapter one instead of two –sweatdrops- Sorry! Plus I edited, this chapter again. I didn't want to rush Naruto revealing Kyuubi JUUUUUUUUUST yet. But it'll have to come eventually.  
**

**And the question still remains, do you want Sasuke…DEAD OR ALIVE?**

**Please tell us!**

**Excuse**_** Cathy **_**for making Pein OOC**

Through the glass, Itachi watched the girl shiver, her pale pink lips turning slightly blue. It was a special type of glass. It was made so that when chakra was channeled through, a highly undetectable genjutsu appeared, making it a one-way glass only.

He watched her continue to curl up tighter, his onyx eyes indifferent, emotionless. He felt no pity for her, only his absolute duty to guard her mattered to him.

Itachi watched as she twirled her pink hair repetitively, her emerald eyes lost in deep thought. He could sense her weaknesses, the way she welcomed her emotions openly, in no fear of them over-powering her.

How wrong she was.

Emotions were the one thing that separated a person from absolute power. Emotions were weak. Emotions were useless.

For a second, Itachi almost pitied her.

With that Itachi turned around abruptly and left, dismissing any further thoughts.

* * *

Itachi walked in to the kitchen, where he saw Deidara and Sasori arguing about art again, Kisame standing by watching and snickering. 

Deidara was expressing his childlike manner, waving his left hand around giving intense gesticulations. Sasori was strangely calm, his eyes giving a slight flicker to the battle they were having.

"Deidara-San, art is beauty that can be cherished forever, not something lasting only a few seconds" argued Sasori calmly, quietly reaching for his tea.

"No, art is meant to be a bang, un!" Deidara argued back, his hair swinging wildly as he continued to wave his hand around. Itachi walked past both of them swiftly, ignoring the usual argument. Sasori did not respond to Deidara's continuing insults, instead choosing to walk over to Itachi.

"Itachi-san, Leader-sama requests to talk with you." he stated stoically.

Itachi flickered his eyes to Sasori, indicating he had heard him. He briskly walked towards the door, pausing in the doorway.

"Kisame," Itachi started. "Bring food to the prisoner." Kisame looked up at the mention of his name, scowling.

"The hell? Isn't that your job?" he asked roughly, turning to glare at his partner.

But, Itachi had already disappeared.

* * *

Sakura looked up, hearing the door slam open. However, to her surprise, it was not Itachi who walked through the door, but the missing-nin, Hoshigaki Kisame instead. 

Unaware of speaking her thoughts aloud, she mumbled under her breath. "Great, first the girly asshole, then the cold bastard, and now fish-face."

Kisame, with his sharp hearing, caught the insult immediately baring his teeth.

He slammed the tray in front of the kunoichi, smirking when a piece of bread fell onto the dusty floor beneath.

Sakura's gaze fell on the tray, hands still kept firmly besides her.

There wasn't much food, just what seemed like leftovers or food that had grown stale. Then again, Sakura wasn't exactly expecting Akatsuki to give her their most fresh supplies. All that was on her tray was a brown banana, a glass of water, and a piece of bread that had fallen to the floor.

Sakura patiently waited for Kisame to leave, but the ignorant man kept standing in front of her, smirking.

"Do you honestly think I'll eat that?" she snapped at him, her face a disgusted, but still eying the food hungrily.

Kisame noticed the famished look in her eyes, and he leered at her, the sharp, shark teeth visible. "Well, I'll just take it away _hime_. " he drawled, the sarcastic bite evident in his voice.

Sakura didn't respond to Kisame's provoking. Although she held much disdain for the meal in front of her, she was still quite ravenous, and stuck a hand out to reach for the banana.

However before her hand reached it, Kisame suddenly pulled it out of her grasp, as if teasing her.

"Hime, didn't anyone ever teach you manners? Your supposed to say all that politeness crap to someone who gives you food" snickered Kisame, still holding the platter.

"Just give me the food..." Sakura said, sighing. Kisame placed the food on the ground roughly, practically throwing it down.

"There you go, hime." he said, the sarcastic tone apparent in his voice.

Kisame left the room, content to have just witnessed "begging" in his opinion. He slammed the door behind him, and the sound of a soft snicker trailed after him, his footsteps also echoing away.

Then, Sakura realized exactly what he had found so funny.

"How the hell am I supposed to eat this food with these chakra cuffs attached to my wrists?" she groaned loudly, the tingling sound of the chain reverberating throughout the room.

* * *

Meanwhile in Konoha... 

Tsunade slammed her fist down on her desk in rage, a thunderous crack filling the air.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?!?"

The ANBU shifted nervously and looked down rather meekly. "Well, the captain had scheduled training, but she didn't show up, so I went to look for her an-"

Tsunade sat down, her eyes and mouth etched in a deep frown. "Yes, yes I understand this. But any evidence as to WHY?"

Before her victim could answer, Tsunade had already gotten off her chair, and walked silently towards the window, a terrified stammering apparent in the background. Her eyes were glued to the world outside her window, capturing every flicker of happiness she could find so she wouldn't take her anger out on the shinobi behind her.

She gave a long sigh, wondering as to who would capture Sakura in the dead of night, leaving no evidence behind.

The only reason Tsunade could think of behind her students' capture was for Sakura's medical abilities.

"Damn.." whispered Tsunade as cold sweat trickled down her neck.

Sakura was known widely because of all the amazing, medical techniques she had invented. Ever since they... had left, Sakura had completely thrown herself into work, almost never participating in any social activities besides what was required and occasionally training. Her eyes widened.

The Souseiki no Shinsei (1) technique. If her kidnapper had captured her because of that, then she could immediately have a suspicion as to who had went after her.

"Bring me all available elite shinobi here now." commanded Tsunade, her fear and worries now growing rapidly.

The ANBU was a little confused at the sudden command, without reason, without anything. She was about to question her Hokage when she heard the table give off a loud crack, and then split perfectly into halves. She looked up to see a murderous gleam shining in Tsunade's eyes.

"I SAID NOW!" boomed Tsunade, her voice mixed with equal balances of anger and horror. Tsunade's hand trembled uncontrollably.

The ANBU had never witnessed such anger in her Hokage, and it was terrifying. More quickly and precise this time, the ANBU gave a small, trembling bow, and quickly disappeared outside Tsunade's office, the memory of her Hokage's anger still making her shudder.

* * *

Sakura let out a breath, watching the misty haze of the breath she had let out flow freely before vanishing. "I really need something productive to do..." she mumbled and looked up wearily at the dull, gray ceiling. 

She let out another sigh, her stomach emitting a soft rumble of hunger. The lack of sleep and food had finally caught up to her, and she yawned trying to fix herself in a more comfortable position. Suddenly, she heard the sound of the door swing softly open and she turned her head in the direction of the door.

Uchiha Itachi glanced down at her, his emotionless, onyx eyes all too familiar.

"You did not eat your food." he stated calmly, and Sakura shivered with the nostalgic feeling welling up inside of her.

She summoned her courage and retorted, "Well, that's not my fault is it?" Deliberately putting her hands at a more noticeable angle. Itachi's face remained the same, but Sakura continued to glare boldly at the Uchiha.

All of a sudden, Itachi swiped a finger at the cuffs, so quick that Sakura barely caught the scene happening, and the chain disappeared. A couple of seconds passed, and Sakura stared stupidly at her hands, now capable of movement.

"Eat." Itachi commanded, and continued to stare indifferently at Sakura who nodded slowly, and picked up the stale bread. She munched at it slowly, savoring the taste of the first bit of food she had in awhile.

Moments passed, and as Sakura finished the last of her food Itachi moved to leave the room. Deciding it wouldn't hurt, Sakura asked, "You're leaving the chain unlocked?" Not that she wanted to be incapable of using her hands, but it seemed suspicious that Itachi would forget such an important detail.

The silence seemed eternal, but surprisingly Itachi broke the tension in the room by replying,

"It does not matter." and without looking back, the door closed with a small click leaving Sakura to the meaning of the words lying underneath the simple statement.

"You are no threat." Sakura whispered to the empty room. Sakura closed her sea-foam eyes, repeating faintly to herself, "I really am no threat."

* * *

Itachi stepped outside the room, making his way towards to the leader's living quarters. The place where they were staying wasn't far from Pein's quarters... which was exactly the reason why Itachi had chosen the abandoned farm for them to live in. It was only a mere five miles away, and took Itachi only twenty minutes to get to Pein's headquarters. 

As Itachi made his way across the forest, Itachi recalled his most previous encounter he had with Pein before he caught the kunoichi.

_"Itachi, you have made me proud on your previous missions, you will not disappoint me now will you?" said Pein, his dull, gray eyes impassive._ _His back was turned to Itachi, signifying he was somewhat displeased._

_The two men stood far away from each other, but close enough to sense the surge of dislike. Itachi respected Pein, but in no possible way did that signify he was afraid of Pein._

_Both of them played out their best poker-faces, the incessant silence common to both men._

_"Is something...displeasing you…Pein?" asked Itachi, a hint of bitterness apparant in his voice._

_Pein gave a loud laugh immediately after Itachi finished his sentence. His pale, white hands were placed on the wooden window frame. Although Pein's back was turned to Itachi and the room was pitch black, Itachi could tell Pein was testing him, watching him, examining his every move. But Pein said nothing, he only laughed._

_The other Akatsuki members shifted around nervously, slightly uncomfortable around their leader's sudden outbreak. Even Konan looked a bit confused at her leader's strangeness, but made no move to ask why._

_Itachi stood still, his crimson eyes staring down hard at the swirling, red clouds on Pein's Akatsuki cloak. Pein was getting distracted these days, and it was too often that Itachi felt Pein was resisting the urge to kill him. If he was correct, it wasn't safe to play hostage to Pein any longer._

_"I assure you Pein, I will not fail in capturing the Kyuubi." replied Itachi in a monotonous voice._

_Pein said nothing, but simply waved his hand several times, signifying that the meeting was over. Itachi was first to move, while the others except Konan still undecided whether or not to obey or to stay. Konan walked slowly over towards Pein, her face debating whether or not to ask Pein to fill her in on his plan. _

_All that was visible on Pein's face however, was the reminiscences of the outbreak he gave moments ago._

Itachi recapped back, and noticed that he wasn't far away from his destination now. Somehow, the peace and serenity of the forest seemed to sooth him, and made time fly by faster. Itachi would've gladly preferred to reside in the forest then with the other Akatsuki members any day. It was like Hell on Earth with Kisame's bickering, Sasori and Deidara's arguing every time about the same subject, and Tobi's annoying comments.

Itachi finally made it to the large, abandoned castle in which Pein and Konan resided. When Itachi reached the front gate, Konan was there to meet him, her eyes hungry for excitement that she never found in the desolate place.

"Itachi, Pein-san is _eager _to see you." said Konan with a smirk.

Itachi nodded. He didn't even glance at her, but continued to move straight past her and into the pitch black castle.

Although it was dark, Itachi knew the way to the room by heart. It was always the same room Pein meets Akatsuki for meetings.

Itachi placed her hand on the rusty, brass knob, and turned it slowly.

Pein was inside exploring a fascinating book he was holding. He didn't make any move to acknowledge Itachi's presence, but continued being delightfully interested in the book. Finally, he closed the book, a content smile on his face.

"Do you know why the Akatsuki was formed?" questioned Pein, his presence slowly moving towards Itachi.

Before Itachi could answer, Pein answered for him.

"We do not kill because we take pleasure in it, but simply to prevent the Kage's from taking control of this cold, sick world."

Pein was now dangerously close to Itachi, enough to feel the hot breaths Pein was emitting from his mouth.

"We already have everything we need to accomplish _our _goal except for one small thing that i specifically requested you to get."

Pein slammed his hand down on a bookshelf nearby, causing the books to fall out of its shelves, and collapse onto the ground. The mess emitted a thick, dust.

"The Kyuubi, WHERE IS THE KYUBBI?!" hissed Pein.

Itachi didn't move, nor did he even flicker his eyes when he felt the cold blade of the kunai pressed against his stomach. He simply turned his head to face Pein.

"There is no need for us to capture the Kyuubi, for the Kyuubi will come to _us._" hissed Itachi, his crimson eyes locked with the dead space in front of him.

The two men stood in silence for a moment, before Pein released his grip on the kunai. His eyes became the emotionless gray they were before, and entire body frame slouched a bit. Itachi was a little relieved when he felt the cold blade contracting from his presence.

"I will trust you on this Uchiha Itachi, but do not disappoint me. As soon as the Kyuubi falls into your hands, bring him to me. Capture the Kyuubi at any cost, and hurry. I am not a patient man...Itachi, you know that better than anyone."

Pein turned his back on Itachi, signaling it as a sign of dismissal.

Itachi arranged his fingers in a hand sign, almost invisible to the eye, and disappeared.

* * *

Tsunade's gaze met each of the shinobi's faces. Most were the original Rookie Nine, as well as Gai's original team too. Hatake Kakashi, as well as Maito Gai had joined the meeting too. Their grim faces regarded Tsunade calmly, awaiting instructions. This was a time to be serious, and they understood this well. Abruptly the sounds of shouts could be heard, as well as one distinct voice, one everyone there knew well. 

Without warning, a flash of orange burst in screaming, "WHERE THE HELL IS SAKURA-CHAN?!" Fangs protruded from under the furious ninja's lips, an animal like growling emerging from him. His eyes from flashing oddly from a deep, pure cerulean to a blood red, then settling on an occult mix of both, violet.

A stillness enveloped the room, before someone muttered a, "How troublesome..." under his breath.

Tsunade rubbed her temples, feeling a migraine coming. "Brat, I see a couple of years hasn't helped the volume of your voice." she mumbled, almost in a sorrowful voice.

The 'Number One Most Surprising Shinobi' had returned, and he sure was pissed.

"OBAA-CHAN, I'LL REPEAT IT AGAIN, WHERE THE HELL IS SAKURA-CHAN?!" he hollered.

The vein twitching on Tsunade's forehead caused everyone in the room excluding Naruto, to prepare for the onslaught of screaming sure to come. Naruto stomped his foot angrily on the ground several times, demanding for an answer.

Finally Tsunade lost it, and the Hokage practically leapt out of the chair, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his orange jacket. "YOU IDIOT, THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO FIND OUT!"

With this, Naruto's cheeks reddened, whether in embarrassment or anger it was hard to tell. "WELL, HURRY UP AND FIND OUT!" he retorted back.

The Hokage's reply was interrupted by Kiba, who almost timidly asked, "Er...Naruto...aren't you well supposed to be…like dead?" Naruto's glare swiveled to Kiba, who also glowered back.

Tsunade let out an audible sigh, letting go of Naruto's collar and returning to her chair. "Ok, we'll start off with the fact where Naruto was." she began, and the two boys glaring at each other turned their attention to the Hokage.

Naruto's odd violet eyes were downcast, his breathing hitching. Tsunade's irritation turned to worry as she sent a concerned glance in Naruto's direction.

"I'll tell them." Naruto muttered. And besides a few select people, the shinobi's were perplexed.

"Tell us what?" Ino asked gently.

Naruto looked up, a bittersweet smile on his face. "Everything." he replied seriously. The shinobi waited, the tension unbearable.

However, the pain in his swirling, violets was practically tangible. He blinked a couple of times, as if trying to prevent the tears from sliding down his scarred cheeks. "I'll tell you guys everything." he choked out, and the people in the room, regarded him silently with worry.

"Just...now now." he deadpanned. And a large groan rumbled throughout the room, shattering the serious moment. And Naruto wiped an obviously, fake smile onto his lips. But as soon as it appeared, it disappeared.

"However, my question was still unanswered. Where's Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto, seriousness spreading across his features once more. Tsunade nodded and the tension in the room increased tenfold.

"We have reason to believe she has been kidnapped." Tsunade stated, and some of the shinobi gasped.

Naruto eye's narrowed, making him look incredibly fierce along with his fangs and reddening eyes. "By who?" he hissed.

Tsunade's eyes lowered before addressing the whole room with the horrible conclusion she had come to.

"By the Akatsuki."

* * *

Sakura felt tear's gather in her eyes, which she angrily blinked away. Uchiha Itachi brought back so many painful memories. He was too much like, both in personality and in physical appearance, someone who she thought about too much. 

She slammed her fist down on the floor. Even after all these years she could not destroy the lingering feelings of her attraction for her raven haired teammate. But she had come to the fact that Sasuke couldn't be forgiven so easily now. Especially after what he had done to her. Done to Konoha, and done to Naruto.

The Anbu captain suddenly grew tired of all this self-pitying. 'I need to escape.' she thought silently. Konoha would probably send a search party for her, but she couldn't risk the lives of her friends. Not again. She still couldn't use chakra, but she still had her physical strength. She looked down at where the slammed her fist into the ground, where the stone floor was now crumbling.

To her horror, the stone emitted a flash, before the stone was reconstructed, looking perfectly innocent as she glared at it. "Stupid chakra.." she muttered under her breath. So obviously, there was no way to break out of this room. Even if she did break out of room, she had at least a couple of Akatsuki members to get through as well.

However, her thoughts were interrupted by a blood curling scream echoing throughout the hideout.

**

* * *

(1)-****Souseiki no Shinsei****i- Genesis of Rebirth**

**IMPORTANT:****Sasuke, DEAD OR ALIVE?**

**We really need to know guys, the story can go either way.**

**So far:  
Sasuke Dead:1  
Sasuke Alive: 3**

**Come on ppl that's pitiful xD**

**Cathy:****Me and Eileen are awfully sorry for the waiting. Yeah, school and what not gets in our way…a lot.**

**Eileen: Truthfully, I hate this chapter...its so...boring…and cheesy. PLUS ALL THAT OOCness, -cough – Cathy and making Pein overemotional –cough- I don't know exactly how to write Naruto admitting the whole Kyuubi thing, whenever I read it in fanfictions I always think it's way too...unemotional and cheesy. So I finally get how hard it is to write it. Something's going to happen next chapter for sure!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Neither of us own Naruto characters, or else we'd be stinkin' rich by now...if only that were the case T.T**

**A/N:**

**Cathy: well, here's chapter 4...DUN DUN DUN...well anyway, i know we take a lotta time to update, but please** **bear in mind that as a couple of teenage girls, we have a buncha stinkin' homework..--**

**Eileen: Whatever just skip to the chapter :P**

**ALSO, HIDAN, KAKUZU, AND SASORI REMAIN ALIVE! (just so you know)**

**Sasori..escaped or something from Sakura...and Hidan and Kakuzu never met the Konoha Nins**

**SASUKE DEAD OR ALIVE?**

**Current Results**

**Dead: 5**

**Alive: 12**

**And if we get an even enough vote, between around 1-2 difference, then we'll just have to compromise. **

**Plus voting ends around chapter 10ish k? Maybe 12 at the most?''**

* * *

**­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­**Sakura sank against the wall, feeling the wail curl her blood, her body giving a small shiver. As she regained her senses quickly, she could hear explosions shaking the door of her prison, and she narrowed her eyes.

Someone had found out the Akatsuki's hideout, but the question was who? Her first thought had been someone had finally sent out a search party for her, and she had felt so elated by it, but the euphoria faded quickly. She had only been gone for a couple of days, there was no way they could've found the hideout so quickly.

Then again, she could've been captured for more than a couple of days. It could've been weeks for all she knew, since her room was not provided with the essentials of a clock nor a calender.

Sakura almost giggled at the idea of Itachi setting up a digital alarm clock and a Chinese zodiac calender in her baren room.

Her sense of dark humor soon turned into paranoia, for someone broke her rooms' door with his fall.

She dashed towards the gap in her wall, still a little wobbly from the lack of chakra the cuffs had stolen earlier.

Kisame had just slashed a man in half with Samehada, a visible smirk plastered over his blue face. Sakura wasn't at all disturbed, for being an ANBU captain forced her to encounter with blood almost every single day. She had grown accustomed to seeing dark, red liquid flowing from a lifeless body.

Sakura looked over to Kisame for answers, but Kisame had only given her a small annoyed glance while cleaning off the blood on Samehada with the lifeless man's shirt.

His dull, brown eyes seemed to be saying:

_What the hell does it look like? We're being attacked._

Sakuras' eyes drifted from Samehada to Kisame, then back to Samehada. Both Kisame and his sword seemed to be glowing, for both took sadistic pleasure in slicing, cutting, and refining. Samehada must've been intoxicated with the blood of the enemy shinobi.

Another ninja charged at him, a blur but Kisame instantly reappeared behind him. Whirling the Samehada downwards, the sickening sound of flesh tearing reached Sakura's ears, and the blood pooling around her feet telling her the man was obviously dead.

A tiny voice in the back of her head seemed to be whispering with cold, bold words:

_In this panic and confusion, they won't notice if you slip around the corner…_

Sakura snorted. Like the Akatsuki would ever panic. In a moment's time, she decided it would be better to stay and retrieve more information about Akatsuki, and hopefully be accepted more. If she ran now, there would be a definite chance she would get captured, and possibly killed, especially with her small amount of precious chakra. When Akatsuki was more comfortable with her presence later on, _then_, she would unfold her brilliant plan to escape.

Once she came up with one of course.

Kisame seemed to understand the reason for the kunoichi's silence. It was obvious to anyone she was debating whether or not to stay or escape. The girl had to hide her emotions better. One look at those intoxicating emerald eyes of hers and you could see through her soul and all the secrets within it.

Kisame saw the girl sigh, and could see she had finally decided to stay with them.

_Smart girl, wasn't as stupid as she looked_. It would be impossible for her to run with her low amount of Chakra.

"Sorry hime, can't carry you around like last time, you have to fight this time to keep up with us." said Kisame, with a tone of malice in his raspy voice.

Sakura nodded slowly in understanding, and proceeded to following Kisame through the never-ending, darkened halls of the building.

All around them, lifeless bodies of poor chaps were scattered around, like a bunch of dominos _after _the effect. Sakura took in the gruesome images with acceptance.

These were Akatsuki members. Was it supposed to be surprising to find the end results after you place four maybe five S-class criminals with a bunch of incompetent jounin?

As they continued walking down the corridors, Sakura's thoughts were broken when she heard a loud thump. Kisame had kicked something and it landed about a meter away from her. As Sakura neared the object, she could visibly see it was a decapitated head of one of the slaughtered ninjas. The worst part was that the blood-shot eyes and the gaping mouth was still widely opened. The reaction the man got after being decapitated was still shown on his face.

Sakura quickly looked away, only to witness an arm still vibrating on the floor. It didn't take a medic to know that the nerves were still in shock from touching oxygen and being _unattached _to the rest of the body. Her right eye twitched a bit, but that was all she expressed for the dead men around her.

The fighting had stopped, for the clash of metal had ceased, and the last ninja standing had slumped onto the carpeted floor, dead.

Sakura did not take this as a hindrance to her thinking, for she was still mesmerized in the act of pondering who the ninjas were. It was a small chance they had come to rescue her. She gave a sigh. If her teammates had come dashing up to save her (which they probably would), she was to prohibit this scene from happening at all cost.

What really questioned her was why they even took her in as hostage. If they intent was really to capture Naruto and take the Kyuubi, they were sadly wrong.

Sakura gave a sadistic smile and chuckled darkly.

_Fools, you will never get the Kyuubi. _

Finally, she eliminated the choice of ANBU, for ANBU would not have been killed that easily. She finally settled on a weak and pathetic theory on how it was just a group of lost Jounin wandering around and suddenly stumbled upon Akatsuki HQ.

It was lame, but it was the best reason she came up with so far.

Sakura was so deeply concentrated on her thoughts, that she had not even noticed that Kisame had stopped. Her legs had walked on mechanically and automatically without her brain controlling them.

She bumped into Kisame, and quickly mumbled an inaudible 'sorry'.

She looked up to see the other three Akatsuki members staring at her, a little surprised she hadn't tried to escape. All of them were soaked in blood, none of which were their own.

Deidara shook his head, muttering under his breath, "Damn Kiri(1) hunter nins interrupted me in the process of my art,un."

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

_Hunter nins..?_ _So it wasn't a group of lost Jounins.._

Sakura now felt ashamed at her idiotic theory.

Sasori had noticed Sakura listening in on them, and gave a slight frown towards Deidara, a little annoyed at Deidara's immature-ness and his big mouth. Deidara returned the favor with a small glare aimed at Sasori, not quite understanding the meaning of the sudden insult thrown his way.

Kisame did nothing except continuing to polish Samehada, and Itachi just stood there examining Sakura to see if she was "damaged".

Using her medic powers, Sakura used her eyes to feel if any of them were injured.

Damn, they were all perfectly healthy.

Sakura gave a small, inaudible sigh. There was going to be no advantage over them. The silence continued to hang over the room, the sound of drops of blood hitting the floor repetitively. The coppery tinge in the air made it clear there had been a decent amount of people infiltrating the base.

Sakura cleared her throat and tentatively asked, "So.. who invaded the base?" After a couple more moments of tense awkwardness, Kisame snorted.

"Not so sure if that pitiful attack would be called an invasion, but it was just some idiot Mist Nins who somehow located the base." he deadpanned swinging Samehada over his shoulder.

"Oh." was all Sakura managed to choke out.

"Does that mean we're switching bases?" she asked quietly again. Deidara shifted his eyes over to Sakura, glowering at her.

He scowled at her, and replied, "Damn, you sure are a curious prisoner, un." He met Sasori's steely gaze, not directly focused on anything. Somehow they seemed to come to an understanding and Sakura thought incredulously:

'How the hell did he manage to get anything out of that?!' Itachi and Sasori had remained quiet the whole conversation, and it was clear they wouldn't be joining in anytime in the nearby future.

Deidara shrugged and told her simply, "Yeah, obviously since someone knows our location." Sakura could feel the beginning of a vein twitching. How the hell did they take this all so calmly? Apparently this was a pretty, normal occurrence.

Suddenly the loud swearing of someone else began to get louder. Another Akatsuki member arrived, with his gray hair (though he clearly was pretty young) slicked back, with a forehead protector hanging around his neck. An enormous scythe with multiple blades, slicked with blood was grasped by his hands and he continued to swear under his breath. Behind him, another cloaked figure joined him. The majority of his face was covered with a bandanna-type style clothing covering the top of his head. A black mask was tied around his mouth, similar to someone she knew as well.

"Who was the fuckin' asshole who leaked out our fucking location?!" he cursed loudly and Sakura found herself narrowing her eyes disapprovingly. Kisame scowled, jabbing him in the shoulder.

"Don't have a clue Hidan, now shut the fuck up, Leader-sama's coming." he growled, and Sakura instantly registered his name was Hidan.

Hidan's bloodshot eyes scanned the room, flying from member to member, finally resting on Sakura.

"What the hell is that thing?" demanded Hidan, as his eyes scanned Sakuras' body from head to toe.

If it wasn't for the situation she was in, and the fact that she was surrounded by S-class criminals, she would've beat the shit out of the pervert. Instead, she gritted her teeth and clenched her fist in a most _womanly _manner.

Itachi, sensing Sakura's immediate distaste for Hidan, shifted his gaze slowly from Sakura to Hidan.

"She is our hostage for the _Kyuubi... _Perhaps Leader didn't tell you?answered Itachi, a small smirk visible on his face. Itachi respected Hidan as a fellow Akatsuki member with his extraordinary ability to reattach his limbs, but it was difficult most of the time to respect such a foul-mouthed person.

Hidan had noticed the hostility in Itachi's tone, but chose to ignore it. Instead, he took strides over to Sakura, walking around her, but never close enough for her to leap out at him without a consent warning. He circled around her like a predator eyeing his prey.

Hidan must've sensed Sakura's loathing for him, because he continued irritating her incessantly, smirking at every disgusted remark she made. Finally, he broke the tension with one of his remarks.

"We can't kill her right?" he asked pleasantly, averting his gaze to meet the steely, ever emotionless eyes of Itachi.

"Affirmative." he replied, his voice monotone. Hidan sighed before turning to saunter down the hall instead, towards his room.

Deidara, decided to voice his opinion, already knowing what Hidan was going to do. "We don't have time for your damn rituals, we'll probably have to move bases soon." Deidara commented, and Hidan whirled around, his dark eyes filled with a pure, murderous rage. The pressure of killing intent immediately spread around the room and Sakura did her best to remain the image of looking unaffected like everyone else in the room, except they weren't acting.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING MOCK KAMI-SAMA!" he hollered at Deidara. Then Kisame grinned, his shark teeth shining even in the dim light of the Akatsuki hideout.

"Don't your ever stop your bitchin'? Besides Deidara, I think Hidan's got enough time, if he stops arguing and move his ass to his room already." Kisame drawled, making his point. Hidan let out one final, animal-like growl, before storming off, silently somehow, down the dark, blood-stained hall once more.

Suddenly, Konan appeared. Her dark blue hair was slightly tussled from the petty battle, and she spoke softly, but stoically like most of the Akatsuki (excluding a few such as Dediara, Kisame, and Hidan). "In approximately twenty minutes, we will be abandoning the base."

Suddenly Kisame and Deidara wore a sadistic grin upon their faces, and Sakura tilted her head in confusion. Kakuzu noticed this informing her, "It appears my partner will be left behind."

And Sakura, imagining the foul-mouthed member's reaction also found a small smile on her lips. She was surprised by her actions, and immensely furious for letting her guard down in front of all these S-Class criminals. Instantly, her emotional barrier was up, her face matching that of some of the Akatsuki members, blank and detached.

However, out of the corner of his eye, Itachi caught the small smile and instantly made note of it.

* * *

Sakura licked her cracked, dry lips as they continued to run further, and further through the never-ending forest. The tenebrous trees loomed over her as she continued to stare fixedly ahead. The path they ran upon was smothered by fog, so her vision was obscured by the opaque mist.

Nevertheless, besides the somber setting of their location, Sakura enjoyed the freedom she had gotten. Being locked up, only able to lay on the floor, predicting if your death would be near was definitely stressful. She had felt a desperate need for the feeling of being outside, with the wind whisking your hair around, this way and that. As cheesy as it sounded, she had learned the lesson of treasuring the privileges of being able to go outside.

Due to the mist, Sakura pondered if the new base was going to be in Water Country. Turning her head reluctantly to ask the person next to her, she instantly regretted as Itachi's empty, onyx eyes met hers. She quickly turned her head away, feeling a blush of embarrassment spread across her cheeks.

'Oh kami, was I actually going to ask where their base was going to be?' she thought, lurid. As she slowly lifted her eyes to meet Itachi's steady gaze again, she felt a pang of a desperate loss. An acuminate knife twisted her insides, and the emotional pain flooded her senses.

'No… I can't break down now.' Sakura told herself weakly.

Before she could stop it, a name escaped from her lips, "Sasuke-kun…" she whispered, not realizing she had said it aloud before Itachi turned his head towards her. Her eyes widened, and she blinked frantically as she tried to prevent tears from falling.

The other members were at least a good hundred feet away, but Itachi stayed by her side, making sure there was no chance of escape. If they had heard the words leaving her lips, they ignored it, never looking back.

Numb, she erased her surroundings from her mind, feeling as if her distraught mind and physical body were separate. She could distantly sense her legs continuing to run, but it made no difference to her. Inside her mind, she broke down, collapsing, tears steadily slipping from her emerald eyes.

As everything came back slowly, she could hear the beat of raindrops pouring from the sky and then felt the water on her skin. She shivered a bit, but as everything flowed back she conceived that they were before a towering tree. Looking around, through the murky rain, all the trees stretched on above, and she couldn't see the end of any.

Sakura squinted comprehending Pein muttering something, then watching as his hands melded into a blur, some sort of hand signs, she assumed. He flung back his arm, then swung it forward and pressed it deeply into the tree. Suddenly, she found herself transported into the rayless, shadowy hall of an underground space.

Itachi signaled for her to follower him with his hands and Sakura nodded. She trailed after him in the dim halls, and it all seemed like some giant maze to her. He stopped abruptly, and Sakura accidentally bumped into him.

Muttering an apology she continued to follow him into a darkened room, wondering how on earth he could see anything with his horrible eyesight (due to use of Mangekyou Sharigan)!

Wordlessly, he reached into a drawer handing her a white towel, and a pale, pink dress. It was drab, but as she touched the material, she found it to be surprisingly silky and soft.

He opened another door, where she saw a giant pit dug, filled with what seemed like steaming water. She nodded, and continued in.

The door closed with an audible click behind her, and she undressed and slid herself into the water. She felt a lot of the grime drop from her skin and she scrubbed it as well. She hadn't had a bath in awhile, and being out for hours in the rain hadn't really improved anything. She sighed in pleasure at the comfortable feeling of the warm water, feeling, if just for a moment, some of the stress evaporating.

After soaking in the water, for another good thirty minutes, she got up from the bath. She dried herself, slipping on the dress Itachi had handed her.

Sakura then proceeded to wash her original outfit and hung it on the rack hanging in the corner. Turning to face herself in the mirror, she reeled back in shock. She had gotten only a bit frailer, from the lack of food and sleep. But what frightened herself the most, were her downcast, dull green eyes. They looked exactly the same. She had never looked at herself properly in a mirror after the news.

She really never had been the same.

As she regarded her eyes, she recalled the picture of Team 7. Back then, everything had been simple, they weren't facing any true danger. But then, all the events had started. The boulder had started rolling down the hill, never stopping till it crashed. (2)

In that picture, her eyes had been filled with an untainted look. She was still innocent, oblivious to the horrors of the world. The luster of happiness had faded away into nothingness. Sakura felt self-pity for herself, and it disgusted her. She was sick of the way her life had swerved turning downwards. Was this how Kakashi had felt, when he was the only remaining member of his team left? Even his sensei had died, but he had accepted the losses.

'I wonder…if I can ever truly come to terms with their deaths?' she asked herself meekly. 'At least I still have my sensei, others they have nothing. How can I be so selfish?'

She was scandalized by the aftermath heartache of Sasuke leaving. After all he had done, she still had hoped…she had continued to be a fool. If maybe she had convinced Naruto…then…maybe...what?

Sakura stopped her train of thought from there, nothing would be able to change had already happened. However, she hated the way that she force herself to look at Itachi, feeling the hurt at their resemblance. She had blamed Itachi, he had killed off the clan, but deep inside she knew. She knew it wasn't his fault at all. Sasuke had left by his own choice after all, and even if the clan was still alive, Orochimaru had been going after the sharigan anyways. He could've picked any Uchiha, and it still could've been Sasuke.

She shook her head, feeling she had spent too long cooped up in the bathroom. Her cherry-blossom pink hair had dried already and as she exited the building she noticed Itachi had left the room.

Hearing the familiar voice of Deidara bicker outside, she reached for the doorknob, peeking outside. Deidara stood there ranting with Kisame looking bored on the other end as he listened to him rant.

As she neared them she caught the snippets of what he was ranting about.

"STUPID HUNTER NINS…DISTURBING ME DURING-" he stopped midway to look up at Sakura silently coming their way.

Kisame smirked, stating, "Well lookie here, the hime herself is graving us with her presence!" he said in mock awe. Sakura muttered a weak 'shut up'.

Deidara stared at her, before finally bluntly asking, "What the hell do you what, un?" Sakura glared at him, but made no motion to start talking.

Finally she decided on voicing her curiosity. "Are we in water country?"

Deidara laughed, drawling, "Yes, we're in water country right after Kiri (2) hunter nins attacked us, un." The biting sarcasm in his words made the embarrassment worse.

"Think, hime. We're not going to tell you anything, but the obvious, which you didn't even seem to notice." He pointed out, snickering.

"Oh shut up, I already feel bad enough." She mumbled, managing a fairly pathetic glower.

Deidara snorted, advising her _so _kindly, "Oh get over it, un."

"You know I've always wondered why you say that." Kisame added in the conservation.

"Say what, un?" Deidara asked in confusion, his gray (?) eyes swimming with perplexity.

"That!" Kisame said pointing at Deidara's mouth, and gesticulating wildly as well.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, un" he deadpanned.

Kisame sighed, rolling his eyes. "You know, un. It sounds like you call everyone hun with an accent." A huge grin to accentuate the absurdity of that comment filled his face.

"WHAT THE HELL, YOU BASTARD?" Deidara shouted, his eyes bugging out in anger. Finding himself with no response, since he barely noticed himself saying 'un', he remained silent for a while.

That was before Kisame started chuckling again. "You mean you don't know you say it?!" Kisame threw back his head, laughing slightly.

"Well…well… why do you call that thing hime?" Deidara retorted, jabbing his finger at Sakura's forehead.

Sakura whipped her head over to glare daggers furiously Deidara. "Excuse me?! Why do you keep insisting on calling me a _thing_?"

"You're excused, and it's obvious. You obviously don't look like a girl with that huge forehead of yours." He said calmly, a huge smirk on his pale face.

Sakura resolved at that instant, whether he was an S-Class criminal or not, to definitely beat the shit out of him. Before she could throw her first punch, a cold hand grasped her wrist, blocking her from her victim. "What the he-" she started turning to glare at the person restraining her. But, when meeting the eyes of Itachi she stopped. "Oh." She squeaked meekly.

Kisame's grin, if possible got wider. "Looks like our hime (3) here is scared of the Uchiha ouji. (4)" Sakura mouthed a silent threat at him, and he ignored it, continuing to increase the large, shark-like grin on his lips.

Itachi who finally chose to speak spoke a soft, but incredibly stern, "Be quiet, Kisame." Kisame instantly wiped the smile away.

Deidara whistled, muttering under his breath, "Looks like shark boy is scared of the ice king here too." Kisame shot him an irritated look, and Itachi gave him a blank one. Somehow, that blank gaze unnerved him, erasing the smirk from his face too.

As Itachi left, dragging Sakura swiftly by the wrist (which was turning pale from lack of blood flowing into it), Deidara asked Kisame. "Damn, does that guy never change expressions?"

Kisame shook his head, "Haven't seen it yet, probably never will." And they watched Itachi march away silently, Sakura in tow behind him.

* * *

As they marched down the dim halls once again, Sakura asked tentatively, "Could you please release my wrist?" The wrist was released instantly, and Sakura was relived to feel the blood returning to her hand.

Itachi turned to face her and spoke, "Do not forget, that you are a prisoner here. And we are not your fellow Konoha ninjas. We are Akatsuki."

Sakura turned her eyes downcast, nodding. She really had wanted to forget that fact, to relieve the stress by listening to the oddly familiar bickering between Deidara and Kisame. It had reminded her of the past, and she found herself in the training grounds, watching Sasuke and Naruto argue, each with fury embedded in their eyes.

And looking at Itachi's sleek, raven hair, paired with his onyx eyes, Sakura couldn't have a stronger reminder.

And Sakura nodded. "I'll never forget." She replied softly, partly to herself.

­­­_Never._

**(1)- Kiri Mist**

**(2) That line is from xxxHolic, which does not belong to us, but CLAMP…unfortunately TT**

**(3) HimePrincess**

**(4) OujiPrince**

**Eileen: Yep, we're finished. No real action, sorry guys! BUT ITS COMING…IT IS. Extremely crappy, overly cheesy chapter for me, but hope at least didn't retch when reading it :D**

**And plus some SasuSaku in this chapter, but ITS GOING TO BE SOME ITASAKU FLUFF...EVENTUALLY…**

**And in case you missed this:**

**SASUKE DEAD OR ALIVE?**

**Current Results**

**Dead: 5**

**Alive: 12**

**And if we get an even enough vote, between around 1-2 difference, then we'll just have to compromise. **

**Plus voting ends around chapter 10ish k? Maybe 12 at the most? '''**


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